Last night the Mets and Giants played 16 innings on the West Coast, which caused me to stay up until 3:00 a.m. and tweet some very stupid things. It also allowed Brandon Belt to get eight at-bats and the Giants first baseman went hitless while striking out five times in the 4-3 loss.

Striking out four times in a game in a “golden sombrero” and I believe striking out five times is a “platinum sombrero.” Of course, striking out five times while going 0-for-8 is a whole different level of misery, so I searched Baseball-Reference.com for all the instances of a player going hitless in at least eight at-bats with at least five strikeouts.

So last night Belt became the 10th player in MLB history to have at least eight hitless at-bats while striking out at least five times in a game, including just the third player to do it since 1975. And there are plenty of very good hitters on that list. Chris Davis is the last guy to do it, about 14 months ago, and he’s currently leading MLB in homers and slugging percentage. And the last guy before him was Jim Thome, who’s headed to the Hall of Fame.

Also of note: Two of the 10 instances came in the same game, back on July 9, 1971, when the A’s beat the Angels 1-0 in 20 innings and Angels teammates Tony Conigliaro and Billy Cowan each went 0-for-8 with five and six strikeouts, respectively. They were hitting third and fourth in the Angels’ lineup, too.

One of the guys on that glorious list, Byron Browne, had another classic 0-for night, but shared it with his teammates. He was in LF for the Cubbies on 9-9-65 when Koufax pitched his perfect game, no-no No. 4.

granted42 - Jul 9, 2013 at 9:12 PM

Or maybe if no one on the bench can do better than 0-8, the manager has no choice but to keep you in the game. But his defense is good. He should have been playing short last night/this morning.

That’s a rough night. I am hoping Boch gives him the day off. Shame, because he’s had a pretty good season so far. His average is lower than it should be, but he has come up with some big hits and RBI’s. He’s still young, and didn’t get a lot of PT last season. I think he will be a solid first baseman for them for years to come.

Two of the 10 instances came in the same game, back on July 9, 1971, when the A’s beat the Angels 1-0 in 20 innings and Angels teammates Tony Conigliaro and Billy Cowan each went 0-for-8 with five and six strikeouts, respectively. They were hitting third and fourth in the Angels’ lineup, too.

You sure that wasn’t 2013? The more things change, the more things stay the same, or something like that.

Conigliaro quit the Angels and retired from baseball (except for a later short-lived comeback with Boston) right after that game. He told reporters in the wee hours of the morning and then flew out of Oakland. Conigliaro pretty much had a mental breakdown of some kind during the game. Angels manager Lefty Phillips said, before he found out that Conigliaro was in a really bad way, that Conigliaro “belongs in an institution.”

The 1971 Angels were a seriously messed up team. Everybody hated everybody else. It was very hard to keep track of.

I was just 5 at the time, but my family would never give me details about what the Angels problems were that year. They didn’t want to scar me I guess.

Wasn’t it two years ago that everyone was complaining about the Giants not playing him more? Looking at his numbers, they have been just okay for a first baseman/corner outfielder. Very little power in 2012 with solid OBP. This year, some more power, but lower BA and OBP and exactly the same OPS as 2012 (as of today). He is only 25, so may improve, but he hasn’t yet proved the Giants wrong for not playing him more two years ago.